IV International Conference: A Home, a place of growth, care and wellbeing
An interdisciplinary conference on the pivotal role of the home in health and social care. Two main aims: to present and consolidate current thought and evidence on the role of the home in promoting and sustaining health -both personal health and the health of society at large; and to promote future evidence-based discourse and policy-making.
About the conference
This is an international and interdisciplinary Conference on the pivotal role of the home in health and social care. It has two main aims: to present and consolidate current thought and evidence on the role of the home in promoting and sustaining health -both personal health and the health of society at large- and to promote future evidence-based discourse and policy making. The home is a concept universally experienced, permeating every aspect of our lives, yet at the same, it is an entity whose influence on health and wellbeing is poorly understood.
HRF aims to bring together anyone interested in the role of the home in health and disease. International experts review and discuss the evidence base that links the home with physical and emotional health. The conference is organised into 4 main strands: the home in the early years, the role of the home in society, the home as a place to age and the home as a supporter of heath through nutrition.
Delegates find opportunities to forge future collaborations to understand and disseminate the influence of this most basic building block of our society. This conference is of interest of those involved in public health, social care and policy making, and also to healthcare professionals wishing to contextualize the role of the home in preventing or causing illnesses that they help manage.
November 16-17, 2017 | The Royal Society of Medicine, London W1G 0AE
Programme & Agenda
www.hrfconference.org
Plenary Sessions
Prof. Sir Harry Burns | Strathclyde University
A nurturing family: the basis of a successful life
Individuals who have experienced chaotic lives in childhood are more likely to experience difficulties in adulthood. For example, they are more likely to suffer physical and mental ill health and fail in education and employment. Scientific studies have shown that neglect in infancy can have profound biological effects on the brain and the body’s responses to external events. Support for parents who have not experienced nurturing childhoods themselves can transform the outlook for children in those families. Programmes aimed at providing such family support should be widely available.
Prof. Elisabeth Robb OBE | Healthcare Consultant
Healthy family relationships
Seen through the eyes of healthcare professionals – why it’s so important to encourage and nurture positive, healthy family relationships. We focus on how nurses, midwives and health visitors in particular support mothers and the family ideal, raising questions about the challenges faced and how best to respond to them.
The session explores how we equate health and wellbeing in the UK and worldwide, professionals as positive role models and the need to respect human dignity and empower families by listening and working alongside them.
Prof. Sheila the Baroness Hollins | House of Lords
A true home is a gift ‘beyond words’
The ‘Ordinary Life’ movement which drove reform in the late seventies is still underway, with many children and adults even now being denied the safety and intimacy of a secure home environment. Focusing on the right to a home and family life for people with developmental learning disabilities and the attitudinal and practical barriers so many face in achieving a true home, the question being considered is why hasn’t the closure of long-stay institutions both in the UK and abroad delivered all the promises of care in the community policies?
Prof. Timothy Harlan | Tulane University School of Medicine
How the Mediterranean Diet Can Transform Your Health
We have decades of increasingly good quality nutrition research but are challenged today by increasing rates of food related illness. We know what works but have not been able to translate the research into practice. The work at the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University seeks to create a model for translation that makes sense for healthcare professionals and the community in a way that makes sense and meets people where they live — great food that just happens to be great for you.
Panel Discussions
Panel 1: The home as a place to age
Panelists will be speaking about how to build a better home life for older people with experts covering a wide range of topics including practical ways of making the home safer and more accessible and the social aspects of providing companionship and respectful proxy decision-making to address an ailing relative’s needs. The panel will examine the varying types of dementia and unfair social stigma associated with mental illness and look at technological advancements to aid long-term health conditions as well as the financial options to cover care costs while remaining at home.
Chairman: Prof. Rosa Lastra Panelists: Lord Richard Best, Joe Oldman, Prof. Philip Davis
Panel 2: Sustaining health of children and promoting children’s emotional development
Panelists will discuss global and national initiatives to support child health and development, and summarise evidence that home-based interventions can improve long-term health and emotional outcomes in young people and their families. Experts drawn from the fields of child public health, perinatal psychiatry, nutrition, sociology and lactation support will discuss recent and future priorities for supporting infants, young children and their families in the home.
Chairman: Dr. Robert Boyle Panelists: Renata Kaczmarska, Dr. José Víctor Orón, Dr. Enrique Rojas
Call for Papers & Workshops
- Workshop 1 | Home: Care of the vulnerable
- Workshop 2 | Home and Society
- Workshop 3 | Home and Health
- Workshop 4 | Achieving a place of nurture: Educating the home and work-life balance